Daycycle 103 [ August 14 - August 20 ]

[computerized]

daycycle 103

[Aug 14 - Aug 20]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty
Samantha "Root" Groves and Cisco Ramon, have been selected for today’s mission. Details are below:

"Confirm circuit breakers are functioning properly by creating short circuits to test them."

Please debrief the computer on the status of your mission by the end of the Daycycle here.

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Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

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Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will be at 1900 in the Commissary and will be hosted by the Amateaur Dramatics Group. You're invited to come see the one woman show that Mind Control called too "boring" to put on early morning television.

Specials Event - All Specials with knowledge of Specials HQ have been invited to a surprise party to celebrate wanted fugitive, Dick Grayson's, seventeenth birthday.

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Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Comments

Specials Event!

[sanguinescry]

((ooc: feel free to comment directly to Lydia to thread with her here or else create your own subthreads beneath it!))

So, it wasn't a patented Lydia Martin party, given the limited resources, but Lydia liked to think she managed to put together a pretty decent shindig all the same. Steve had gotten the cake and had let she and Morgana use his kitchen, so while Lydia had raided his kitchen and managed to make a pretty decent homemade pizza — they'd probably only each get one small slice, but hey — she had Morgana working on slicing the fruit and vegetables that she'd nicked from her service firm to make a veggie and fruit tray. All in all, Lydia was pretty pleased with what they'd managed to accomplish in the span of less than twelve hours all together.

It didn't look like much down in Specials HQ, because she hadn't gotten to decorating at all, but there was real food, all the same, and with Barry's help, she even had made Dick a gift which she'd give to him a little later. She was still letting the foam set in its makeshift mold.

She'd cleared off the lab table and cleaned it before directing Steve to use it to put out the spread they'd managed to cobble together and, all in all, Lydia was pleased with the result and was grateful for everyone who had lent a hand.

For being stuck in Alpha Complex for it, Lydia hoped that she'd managed to make it at least somewhat of a happy birthday for Dick, anyway. That was what friends were for, after all.

Re: Specials Event!

[utilitybelted]

When Dick had woken up that morning and remembered it was his birthday, he'd been overwhelmed with a wave of homesickness. Birthdays were a big deal at home, Alfie made sure of that, there was always a home made cake and work was off limits for Bruce. They always finished the evening watching a movie and eating pizza (okay, so, sometimes they went out on patrol after, but the pizza was important, it was tradition). It was family time and it was important and Dick had never quite missed home so much as he did waking up alone and knowing that there wouldn't be any cake, there wouldn't be a movie, or pizza, but most importantly there wouldn't be his father.

He spent most of the morning and early afternoon trying to distract himself, working out or prowling the corridors for something to do. Occasionally, he popped into the special HQ to see if anyone was around, but every time he dropped by he found it empty. He wasn't completely surprised, there was always something going on and not everybody could sneak away from their day jobs to hang out there, they probably all just had things to do, it had been pretty quiet the day before as well...

As the day wore on, he began to feel more and more lonely, he tried to convince himself that it was okay, that it was just another day and maybe it wasn't even his birthday anyway, maybe he'd counted wrong, and what was so special about a birthday there wasn't anything different about it, why should he expect anything?
He wasn't very convincing.

He found his steps takng him back to the special HQ, hoping that there was somebody there now, because keeping his own mind off the whole thing was just not working, and if he didn't find someone soon he was going to go crazy.

Specials Event | Lydia & Dick

[sanguinescry]

As Lydia was making sure that everyone was present and accounted for who could make it, Gucci started up with his metallic barking, tail wagging and paws clack-clack-clacking on the cement floor as he ran himself in excitable circles. Given the GPS system and the threat proximity features Root had installed, Lydia could only guess that he was reacting to picking up a read on Dick's approach — yeah, so...now she was completely convinced that Dick was his favorite.

If Dick didn't want a party, the last person he should've mentioned his birthday to was Lydia, so she really hoped, as the door opened, that he wouldn't be upset with her for it. Dick was greeted to a chorus of Surprise! albeit one that was kept at a manageable volume so that it wouldn't echo down the corridor and call attention to their location. Lydia gave him sort of a sheepish little smile before stepping forward and giving him a hug.

"Happy birthday. Don't be mad, okay?" she whispered in his ear, "parties are kind of my thing and, really, you brought this upon yourself." She let go of him and stepped back with a playful little smirk before nodding for him to follow her. "Come on, there's food food to be had!"

Re: Specials Event | Lydia & Dick

[utilitybelted]

The very last thing Dick had been expecting when he stepped into HQ was a cry of 'surprise!' and his automatic reaction to the, well, surprise, was to drop into a fighting stance, hand going towards his pocket to grab a birdarang - until his brain caught up with what was actually happening and he relaxed sheepishly. Blinking around the room he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing - all the friends he'd made here, gathered around and - wait, wait, was this a party? For him?

He accepted the hug when Lydia stepped forward, still a little dazed, but appreciative of her clarification that yes, this was a party, a birthday party, and it was for him.

"I..this is all... I mean... wow, Lydia, just, wow, colour me not whelmed at all. Distinctly overwhelmed. This is - food?" he followed her over to the table and his breath caught in his throat. He swallowed thickly and he was definitely not blinking back tears, nope.

"You got pizza?"

Specials Event! | Open (but also for Dick)

[preemptiveforgiveness]

Matt can't imagine spending a birthday here (though eventually he'll have to face that reality) and because of that, he wants to make certain that he helps make it as painless as possible. When Lydia tells him about the party, he makes certain to attend. He wraps up at work as soon as he can then heads back to his room so he can make a circuitous route to headquarters, making certain that he's not followed or tracked.

When he walks into headquarters, he's wearing the red tinted glasses that he always wears and he's got his white cane with him. He doesn't have to pretend to need the cane here; he actually does need it and the sunglasses are more for everyone else's comfort. His eyes don't focus on anything and people often find it disconcerting.

Once at the party, he'll find Dick first in order to tell him happy birthday. From there, he'll mingle, talking to the people he knows and introducing himself to the ones that he doesn't. He'll also make certain to find Lydia. This is one place they don't have to worry about getting in trouble for showing mutual affection.

[sanguinescry]

When Lydia hears the tell-tale clicking of Matt's cane as he moves into the room, she brightens, looking over toward the door. She's glad he's come; it's nice to be able to be themselves together without having to worry about someone turning them in for being too happy or for fraternizing with the wrong clearance levels.

She hangs back to let him wish Dick a happy birthday and make his rounds, meeting new people and checking in with others and once she can't stand the wait anymore, Lydia makes her way to him, the same fond smile on her face that seems to be ever-present when Matt's around, these days.

"Hey handsome," she greets with a smile and a chaste kiss. "I was wondering if you were going to be able to make it down or if you'd be busy with a trial or something," she admits before adding, "I'm glad you could come."

Re: Specials Event! | Open (but also for Dick)

[utilitybelted]

Dick's pretty amazed at how many people showed up to celebrate with him, even those he'd only had minimal interactions with, and he was grateful to each and every one of them. When Matt made a point to find him and wish him a happy birthday, Dick made sure to try and put as much delight in his tone as possible, Matt might not be able to see the smile on his face, but he'd definitely be able to hear it in Dick's voice.

"Thanks! And thanks so much for coming to celebrate, man, it means a lot."

For Dick!

[a_man_out_of_time]

It if was possible for Captain America to be this proud of acquiring a cake, no one at home would believe him. But it was Dick, and the Specials rarely had something like this to celebrate, so he’d dedicated most of his off-duty time to figuring out what he could get with his status, and what he could barter from others.

The result was something small, but just as fluffy and delicious as he remembered.

He’d shouts SURPRISE with everyone else and smiles with Dick was genuinely shocked.

A little later, when it looks like Dick and Lydia were done talking, he walks over and claps a hand on Dick’s shoulder.

“Happy Birthday,” he says, beaming.

Re: For Dick!

[utilitybelted]

Dick spins around to grin up at Steve, it's obvious from his expression (and the fact he's been practically bouncing since he walked in) that he's pretty excited about the whole party, but he's also a little overwhelmed by how much effort everybody went to - he'd already gushed about it to Lydia, so he'd sort of got it out of his system, but he was pretty sure he was going to embarrass himself in front of everybody before the day was done.

"Hey! Thanks! I hear I have you to thank for the cake? It's really great, thank you!" Okay, so far so good, genuine gratitude and not too much gushing, he might actually pull this off.

[a_man_out_of_time]

"Even with the food we all bring you, living off the grid isn't easy," he says, smiling. "I figured I'd try for something we'd normally have at home for birthdays — we can't let this place take those things away."

Honestly, seeing him happy was enough. It was all the gratitude that Steve needed.

OTA: Early in the Party

[runsonwater]

Barry arrives with Lydia and her gift in tow. It was a little risky, hauling the container down to the Warehouse District, but no one seemed to take any particular interest. He stays behind to rearrange the scant furniture so that there's more sitting room as Lydia goes to Steve's to finalize the food. Those who showed up early might have seen him carefully storing the lab equipment in a closet and shoving cots against the wall. He even managed to find a station on the vidtube that has Computer approved musicvids for some background music.

He will greet guests as they arrive with a smile and an inquiry about how they've been. He's his usual friendly self, but those that know him the best might sense that his mind is on other things.

He wasn't sure what Dick needed, or wanted but he does have a box of black market cornflakes hidden underneath one of the cots to give to him later, even if it did cost him a small fortune.

Re: OTA: Early in the Party

[utilitybelted]

As soon as he gets a chance, Dick makes sure to seek out Barry directly, Lydia told him that Barry had helped to get his gift, and Dick wanted to make sure he'd said a proper thank you - Barry obviously worried about him a lot, Dick wanted to make sure he know how grateful he was for everything.

"Hey!" he grins as soon as he manages to grab Barry for a moment "Lydia told me you helped, with the present, and I just wanted to say thanks, man, it's great! You guys have given me a better birthday than I could have ever hoped for."

[runsonwater]

"Hey," Barry says with a grin as Dick pulls him to the side. "That was all Lydia's idea. Actually, all of this was Lydia's idea. We wouldn't have known there was a reason to celebrate at all if it wasn't for her."

It's good to see Dick smile and actually look his age for once. "By the way, I got you a little something extra. It's kind of a lame birthday present, but it's supposed to be pretty rare around here."

Little did he know that cornflakes were still as common as ever and Maecenas had actually charged him 20x the asking price. He moved over to one of the cots and fished out the box. "I couldn't get you any milk today, but I'll drop some by tomorrow."

Mission | Cisco & Root

[namegenerator]

Cisco was running on fumes by the time he left Gabi's subsector with Stiles. He hadn't really been able to sleep, even when it was his turn to try, because he couldn't shake the feeling that there was a very distinct possibility that the Anti-Mutant Dickhead Squad, or whatever they called themselves, would take the opportunity of her sleeping to attack. Even if they'd known she had bodyguards, what would've stopped them from killing he and Stiles on the spot? It wasn't like they were all that well-armed, after all. So the anxiety had kept him restless.

He'd been a zombie at the morning debriefing and then he'd waited for this Samantha woman so that he could do yet another mission. Cisco made a mental note to ask Barry if this was a regular thing, having what little free time he was supposed to have sapped away by bullshit missions every day in addition to his Troubleshooting position. The sooner they finished this mission, the better. Luckily, Cisco was mechanically inclined, so this should be a breeze. Maybe he could talk her into testing one or two breakers and then calling it a day so he could finally go to sleep. It had been over twenty-four hours of wakefulness already for Cisco and he was completely fried.

So when he saw a woman approaching, rather than his typical upbeat sort of attitude, he dully asked, "are you Samantha? If so, can we get this show on the road?" A yawn slipped out immediately after he asked and Cisco sighed in the wake of it. "Sorry. Long night."

[avemachina]

'Samantha' moves almost aimlessly, and only lifts her eyes when Cisco starts to speak. Her eyes narrow, almost judgmentally.

"And why were you up past curfew?" Despite the probing question, she moves and gestures him to walk with her to head toward the first cluster of breakers.

[namegenerator]

Cisco drags himself forward to follow her, stifling another yawn behind his hand. "It wasn't by choice," he sighs. "I had a mission last night that ran until about an hour ago, so I'm running on zero sleep in the past twenty-four hours. Bear with me."

Another yawn. God, he wished that the coffee here was actually coffee. What he wouldn't give for a Flash from Jitters right about now...

"Do you already know where we're going or...oh." He stopped short. Well, she was ORANGE, for one, which he belatedly noticed. And for another, there was the first set of breakers, so obviously, the answer was yes. Cisco slapped his hands against his cheeks to wake himself up a little and he took in a deep breath, clearing his throat. He could do this. He'd done all nighters before, this was not new to him. It had just...been a while. And he'd had Jitters.

Evening | Closed to Steve

[im_ironman]

As much as Lydia encouraged Tony to seek out Steve yesterday, he...didn't. Every time he thought he was ready for it, he found himself stalling, and before he knew it, he was just busy. Between work and different tasks, Tony busied himself and let himself get lost in the process of it all. This wasn't his lab, and it felt so weird to be working with tools and things that weren't his own, but the work was familiar, and that was what mattered.

That was also what caused him to try to juice up a robot when he probably shouldn't have. In Tony's mind he had been doing what he generally did, he was just trying to improve the robot that landed on his workstation, but... Well. It hadn't worked out all that well. It hadn't helped that at that particular moment he caught sight of Steve at the door, distracting him even further, and before he knew it the bot was in more pieces than it had to begin with. The supervisor hadn't seemed very happy with this, but Tony hadn't argued back. He was still learning how much he could push, so for now he just didn't and went back to his work as he and Steve silently agreed to hold off on their meeting until later.

Which, honestly, if Tony could hold off even longer, he probably would. Not because he didn't want to talk to Steve about what was going on, and definitely not because he didn't want to learn more about this place and what, exactly, they were dealing with. He just didn't know how to approach the man that had once been someone he trusted. Current circumstances reminded him that he couldn't be the bitter bastard he had been before waking up here, that this was bigger than both of them and whatever lingering anger or resentment remained needed to be forgotten.

So, now he's trying to do just that. His stomach feels like it's in knots when he spots Steve, but he hides it well as he walks up to him. Especially when he speaks, as casually as if nothing has happened.

"Hey. Is one of Alpha's Most Eligible Bachelors available to talk? I hear I need to talk to number 27."

Because why not break the ice with a little humor, right?

[a_man_out_of_time]

Seeing Tony up close that afternoon had dug up a lot of things — a lot more than Steve had expected. He'd been in Alpha for three months now, before suddenly waking up one day with a year's worth of additional memories. Heartbreaking memories really, of decisions he'd made and consequences he couldn't do anything to avoid.

He remembered more clearly than anything else the moment that he drove his shield into Tony's chest and afterward, the piercing look of betrayal from Tony's eyes. There was no way that those memories were just glitches.

But Steve doesn't have much more time to dwell in the past before he hears Tony's footsteps. He'd sent him the directions to the Avengers headquarters because well, Tony had built it himself, after all. Plus, it was safer and more private than the general Specials headquarters.

Steve huffs a laugh when hears those words however. Shaking his head and smiling, he turns around to look Tony in the eye. "Are you sure you don't prefer numbers 1 through 26?"

If Tony's goal was to break the ice, it worked.

[im_ironman]

"Well I would, but I hear you're the man to talk to when it comes to getting answers about this place."

His tone is a little flippant at the answer, and some part of him is ready to say outloud just how much he really doesn't feel like talking to him, not after everything that happened, but he swallows the words down. He has to play nice, he reminds himself. What good would it do if he starts stirring the pot when things already seemed to be so crazy around here as they are?

Still, it doesn't change the way that Tony seems to keep his distance from Steve. It's almost nonchalant, the way that he slowly strolls along the headquarters as he takes in every detail, but he's mainly doing it so that he doesn't have to necessarily sit or even stand too close to Steve. For now, anyway.

"I hear you've been around here for a while?" He can't help the way the statement comes out as more of a question than anything else, and he finally glances back at him. Because he still doesn't understand how that can be, not when it hasn't been that long since Siberia.

Open | Evening: Commissary

[cassandran]

Stiles had lingered in the room after the cafeteria had stopped serving evening meals, having seen the group of people who had come in to put up the makeshift stage, the tables pulled aside, while those still there had been asked to assist in rearranging the chairs into rows. He'd been hoping to slip away afterwards, nothing being sold as 'too boring' sparked any interest for him at all, but he hadn't had much luck when one of the drama club members had stood by the doors ambushing people to fill the seats.

Which meant he's stuck. Waiting around the seats furthest from the stage, while other crew members finished setting up. There are other people there, some who were asked to stay, while a few are genuinely interested in the show, theater geeks exist everywhere, all finding seats around the room before the lights are dimmed. With his seat though, he could get away with spacing out, and nobody would care.

There's a curtained off area serving as backstage, and from where he's sitting, he notices something about the props laid out for the show... is that a muppet? He really should have left when he'd had the chance.

[whattingawhat]

Stiles isn't the only one who doesn't like puppets, muppets, wooden dummies. They're all a little creepy as far as Buffy is concerned. She's really, really not interested in theatre or anything billed as boring, but she is interested in what passes for citizen improvement here. Since she has no interest in the show or theatre in general, she does some wandering and picks a wall to lean against far from the stage. The muppet catches her attention right about the time it does Stiles and she sees that look he's giving it.

"I don't get it. Who finds those things cute? Anything made of wood or stuffed shouldn't talk. Did we learn nothing from Chucky?"

[cassandran]

"I hadn't even been thinking about Chucky," Stiles says, face twisting into an expression of distaste. The last time he'd found a spooky doll, he'd ended up chased by a coyote. "Which just means there are too many examples to choose from."

"You got rounded up to watch this play too?"

Evening: Closed to Felicity

[runsonwater]

The party for the most part is a success and Barry is grateful that Lydia had come up with the idea. Not only did he think Dick needed it, but they all did. It was nice to forget, at least for a couple of hours, that they were all stuck here against their will.

As the party winds down he makes his way across the room to Felicity. He's been trying to think of ways to apologize for the rude awakening he'd given her on her first day. He hadn't meant to be so insensitive towards her feelings about Ray. There were probably a hundred ways he could've broken the news to her better, but he'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts he hadn't thought twice about it.

That had been unkind and he still felt a small stab of guilt knowing that he'd caused her that kind of pain, even unintentionally. He steps up beside her, his shoulder brushing hers lightly.

"What do you think about partying Alpha style?" he asks with a small smile.

[smoak]

As soon as Felicity sees Barry headed towards her, she starts fidgeting with her glass of water. Suddenly, it was very important that she find somewhere to put it down, especially if it meant facing away from Barry. It wasn't that she was trying to avoid him per se — she was just too embarrassed to know what to say.

When his shoulder brushes hers, Felicity knows that she can't hide forever, and if she was being honest with herself, all she really wants is for them to be okay again.

"It's nice," she answers, smiling at him despite herself and picking back up the glass she just worked so darn hard to put down. "I can tell that people really care about Dick. Everyone seems ... to really care about each other."

[runsonwater]

He knows her well enough to know that she's trying to avoid eye contact with him by setting down her glass and it makes him feel that much worse. He has a lot to apologize for. But at least she smiles back at him. At least she gives him a chance to make things right between them.

"We do," he says, giving a small nod. "This place is all about tearing people down to get ahead, but somehow we've managed to stick together."

He pauses and then turns towards her, blocking them off from the rest of the party. His expression is troubled as he focuses his attention on her. "Felicity, I want to--" His words are cut off as someone turns up the music behind them. Maybe the party isn't as finished as he thought it was. He leans in so he can be heard over the music. "Can I talk to you outside?"